Lesson for the easyJet set
 

Frequent flyers of the future must consider the conflict between cheap flights and protecting the planet. There's no time like now to discuss it, says Lyndsey Turner

http://education.guardian.co.uk/scho...479918,00.html

The Guardian does it again. First, the vote-for-Kerry letter writing campaign it suggested for its readers to voters in Ohio. Now, this lesson plan:

Key stage 4 (age 14-16)

Research the current debate on the taxation of air fuel (sites such as www.euobserver.com/?sid=7&aid=18424 and articles found in the Guardian's special report on the industry would be helpful). Ask students to write a persuasive letter or newspaper report arguing for or against a rise in fuel tax.

One UK thinktank has suggested the government should be more proactive in encouraging British citizens to cut down on unnecessary journeys, proposing a rationing system whereby individuals are allocated a fixed level of "travel points" a year. Air and road travel will require more points than rail travel and public transport; unused points could be sold to those who need to supplement their annual allowance. In the context of a formal debate, explore the advantages and disadvantages of such a radical system.

Find out which of your students has travelled the furthest from home. Plot different travel destinations visited by members of the class on a map of the world, and investigate the environmental cost of such journeys. The website www.chooseclimate.org features an online converter that estimates the amount of fuel used by each journey, and its equivalent in kilograms of CO2.

I suggest the following addition:

Ask those students who have travelled the furthest from home to estimate their family's net worth. Have them calculate the percentage of that net worth that would be required to provide adequate food, clothing and health care to 10 starving children in sub-Saharan Africa.